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Although OpenArena is a Quake III Arena content replacement project, we aren't bound to a certain style. Concepts would be loose, so don't expect a remake of Klesk in his original Klesk form, or any direct remakes of any map/weapon/model.

In general, GNU General Public License v2 a.k.a. GPLv2 (NOT GPLv3) is the law here, but truly Public Domain (non copyrighted) stuff counts too. Licenses clashing with both of them aren't allowed. Please take take this in consideration before contributing.[1]

Reasons for GPLv2 adoption include distribution and maintenance. GPLv2 allows a wider distribution, and allows others to copy, change and redistribute your contributed work, like it is done in GNU/Linux. None of us in OA are making money from it, but the GPL allows OA to be mirrored without any legal risk or included as instalable in many commercial Linux distros, for example.

Other licenses like Creative Commons respect some of these points, but have restrictions for distribution, such as CC-NC and CC-BY, or creation, such as CC-ND and CC-SA. Hence, they are not suitable for official OpenArena stuff. The exception is CC0, which is allowed instead.

If you release something under the GPLv2 license, you must release also the "source" which you've used to make that asset. What the sources are, are listed below. Also, ALWAYS include the license file. And YOU must be the one who submit what you've done, no one else, unless there's a wrote authorization for it.

It shouldn't be needed to say, but just to clarify: Don't add content from commercial games. No matter the reason. It's copyright infringement, which is followed by lawsuits and C&D letters. Don't insist.

If you know about modelling, mapobjects and character assitance is appreciated. If you want to rework some of the already done work, (for example, player & item/weapon models) fine. The sources, in this area, are the .blend files from Blender. You can use other programs, as long as their license doesn't clash with GPLv2. (As in, imposing restrictions over derivatives or distribution) At any doubt, just check the forums.

If you know about sound creating/editing, then your help on, for example, weapon/item/ambiental sounds and voices is more than welcome. Here's a list of missing sounds, so far. Here's a sort of guide about missionpack audio lines.

If you're a mapper, then your help is appreciated. There're some maps on OA's SVN waiting to be retexturized or reworked. If you want to do work on existing maps, that's nice too.

Or, even if you have or not any of the previously mentioned skills, you can throw your own suggestions/help on how to improve the existing stuff of OA, on the development forums. Just remember to read NOTTODO for stuff which won't be part of the game.

Once you feel something you've created for the game it's done, you can post it in this thread on the Development forum, and fromhell will integrate it into OpenArena, if it meets the criteria needed. Just remember again: license file and the sources along with the finished work.

Another way to help the community is to contribute expanding this wiki site: take a look to the WikiWorks page, where you will find a list of pages that should be created and of pages that should be updated.

To extract the files enter 'tar -xvf <filename>.tar.bz2'
That will extract all the files to two directories named 'oa-0.8.8' (game logic) and 'openarena-engine-source-0.8.8' (engine).

On Debian, check for following dependencies :

build-essential

libsdl-1.2.15-dev

libopenal-dev

libvorbis-dev

libcurl-dev (there are different versions, they should all work)

The compiling under Linux is as easy as typing 'make'. Change to the specific directory (e.g. ioquake3svn148) and enter the command 'make'. Provided you have all the required libraries the binary openarena.i386 (or openarena.x86_64) will be created in a subdirectory (e.g. ioquake3svn1438/build/release-linux-i386$ ). You may have to change the mode of the executable by entering the command 'chmod +x openarena.i386'

Please keep in mind that we want to create content under the GPLv2. This means you have to provide a source of your work. The only format OpenArena currently accepts for music therefor is a tracker-format. For more information please use the forum.

↑"GPLv3 only" and "GPLv3+" alone are not allowed, while "GPLv2+" is. Sometimes a work may be multi-licensed, e.g. GPLv2 plus CC-BY, or GPLv2 plus GFDL... if one of them is GPLv2, that's ok. CC0 license is a "public domain" license and thus is allowed, unlike other Creative Commons licenses.